Separable magazine for accommodating discs and a disc player

Abstract

The present invention discloses a magazine for accommodating a plurality discs and an automatic disc player employing the magazine from which a desired disc to be played by the player is automatically selected and separated from the magazine. The magazine comprises a plurality of stacked wafers for holding the plurality of discs a coupling device for separably coupling the wafers forming the magazine. The wafers include a plurality of trays each of which comprises a disc clamping device for releasably holding each of the discs on a bottom surface of each tray. When the magazine is loaded into the automatic disc player, the coupling device is activated to separate the wafers for providing at least a predetermined space between the wafers and for allowing a disc playing device of the player to enter into the predetermined space, wherein the disc clamping device releases one of the discs held by the disc clamping device of the tray selected by the player so that a released disc is transferred to a turntable of the disc playing device to be played.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A magazine for accommodating a plurality of discs each held by disc clamp means on a tray, the magazine being loaded into an automatic disc player having a disc play mechanism so that a desired disc in the magazine is automatically selected and played therein, the magazine comprising: stacked wafers including a tray base and a plurality of stacked trays mounted on the tray base in a directly contacted state with each of the trays disposed contiguous to one another for a given magazine position, with the stacked wafers being separable in a wafer stacked direction;   a magazine slide plate slidably provided under a back surface of the tray base to slide along side faces of the stacked wafers;   magazine slide plate positioning means provided on the tray base for positioning the magazine slide plate into a magazine hand-carried position where the magazine takes a hand-carried state by causing the magazine slide plate to enclose part of the stacked wafers, or into a magazine separable position where the magazine takes a separable state in which the stacked wafers form two groups of wafers in the wafer stacked direction; disc exchanging means mounted on said tray base for allowing the disc to be discharged from and to be mounted on one of the stacked trays in the hand-carried state; and   restrict means provided between the tray base and the magazine slide plate for restricting the magazine slide plate in the magazine hand-carried state and for preventing the magazine slide plate from being displaced to take the magazine separable state, whereby the magazine is loaded in the automatic disc player as the magazine slide plate is slidably displaced to take the magazine separable state, and the stacked wafers are separated into the two groups in the wafer stacked direction so that a predetermined single space is provided under one of the stacked trays holding the desired disc as the disc play mechanism as is displaced under the one of the stacked trays and to play the desired disc as the magazine slide plate is displaced to the magazine separable position in the automatic disc player by causing the restrict means to release restriction of the magazine slide plate during loading of the magazine into the automatic disc player and wherein the magazine hand-carried state includes the magazine slide plate taking a first position where the discs are prevented from being released from and/or inserted into the stacked trays and taking a second position where the discs are released from and/or inserted into the stacked trays, and the magazine separable state includes the magazine slide plate taking a third position where the stacked trays are separated, and further   wherein the tray base further comprises recesses provided at sides facing each other for guiding the magazine slide plate to positions corresponding to the first position and the third position, and the stacked trays on the tray base comprise first recesses provided at the sides thereof corresponding to the side of the recesses provided on the tray base for guiding the magazine slide plate to positions corresponding to the first position and the third position and second recesses provided in the first recesses, and the magazine slide plate further comprises side plates erected upright each of which has a bent portion being inward at one end thereof facing each other for enclosing part of the periphery of the tray base and the stacked trays, whereby the bent portion of the magazine slide plate prevents the stacked trays from being separated as the magazine slide plate is displaced to one of the first and second positions and wherein at least one of the stacked trays in the magazine is separated in the wafer stacked direction by causing the bent portion to slip out the second recesses therethrough as the magazine slide plate is displaced to the third position.   
     
     
       2. A magazine for accommodating a plurality of discs each held by disc clamp means on a tray, the magazine being loaded into an automatic disc player having a disc play mechanism so that a desired disc in the magazine is automatically selected and played therein, the magazine comprising: stacked wafers including a tray base and a plurality of stacked trays mounted on the tray base in a directly contacted state with each of the trays disposed contiguous to one another for a given magazine position, with the stacked wafers being separable in a wafer stacked direction;   a magazine slide plate slidably provided under a back surface of the tray base to slide along side faces of the stacked wafers;   magazine slide plate positioning means provided on the tray base for positioning the magazine slide plate into a magazine hand-carried position where the magazine takes a hand-carried state by causing the magazine slide plate to enclose part of the stacked wafers, or into a magazine separable position where the magazine takes a separable state in which the stacked wafers form two groups of wafers in the wafer stacked direction;   disc exchanging means mounted on said tray base for allowing the disc to be discharged from and to be mounted on one of the stacked trays in the hand-carried state; and   restrict means provided between the tray base and the magazine slide plate for restricting the magazine slide plate in the magazine hand-carried state and for preventing the magazine slide plate from being displaced to take the magazine separable state, whereby the magazine is loaded in the automatic disc player as the magazine slide plate is slidably displaced to take the magazine separable state, and the stacked wafers are separated into the two groups in the wafer stacked direction so that a predetermined single space is provided under one of the stacked trays holding the desired disc as the disc play mechanism is displaced under the one of the stacked trays and to play the desired disc as the magazine slide plate is displaced to the magazine separable position in the automatic disc player by causing the restrict means to release restriction of the magazine slide plate during loading of the magazine into the automatic disc player,   lock means for locking the disc clamp means to prevent the disc held by the tray from being released out of the tray as the magazine slide plate takes the magazine hand-carried state, the lock means further comprising a lock release member for releasing a lock engagement of the lock means from the disc clamp means to release the disc out of the tray by being actuated thereby,   wherein the tray base further comprises sliding slots provided at sides thereof facing each other for guiding the magazine slide plate to positions taking the magazine separable state and the magazine hand-carried state, and an uppermost tray among the stacked trays on the tray base comprises engaging members hanging downward at the sides thereof corresponding to the sides of the sliding slots of the tray base in such a manner that the engaging members enclose the sides of the stacked trays by causing the engaging members to enter the sliding slots, and the magazine slide plate further comprises engaging portions erected upright, each of which has a bent portion being bent outward at one end thereof facing each other, wherein the engaging portions of the magazine slide plate prevent the uppermost tray from being separated by causing the engaging portion to engage with the engaging members through the sliding slots as the magazine slide plate is displaced to the position taking the magazine hand-carried state, and wherein at least one of the stacked trays in the magazine is separated in the wafer stacked direction by causing the engaging portions to disengage from the engaging members to slip out of the sliding slots as the magazine slide plate is displaced to the position taking the separable state.   
     
     
       3. An automatic disc player adapted to use a magazine comprising a plurality of stacked wafers including a tray base and a plurality of trays stacked on the tray base in a directly contacted state for holding a plurality of discs thereon and a magazine slide plate for separably coupling the stacked wafers forming the magazine, each of the trays having a selection engage portion for being selected in the magazine, the automatic disc player having means for selecting a desired disc held by a selected tray and separating the selected tray from the trays by causing the magazine slide plate to displace to a position of a magazine separable state during an insertion of the magazine in the automatic disc player, the automatic disc player comprising: magazine loading means for displacing and positioning the magazine to the position of the magazine separable state during the insertion of the magazine in the automatic disc player by engaging with the tray base of the magazine;   disc play means including a turntable and pickup means; and   tray selection and separation means for selecting one of the trays holding the desired disc and for separating the magazine into two groups of the wafers in a wafer stacked direction so as to provide a predetermined single space beneath the selected tray such that the disc play means accesses the desired disc to be played by engaging with the selection engage portion of the selected tray,   wherein the magazine loading means further comprises a magazine mounting base for mounting the tray base of the magazine together with the stacked trays and for displacing the magazine to the position taking the magazine separable state by engaging with the selection engage portion of the selected tray, and the tray selection and separation means further comprises an upper plate provided movably up and down on the magazine mounting base for forming together with the magazine mounting base an inlet therebetween and for lifting an uppermost tray to a predetermined height, a first tray selection plate slidably provided under a bottom of the magazine mounting base for holding one part of the separated magazine on the magazine mounting base, and a second tray selection plate slidably provided on an upper surface of the upper plate for holding another part of the separated magazine on the upper plate.